Traipsing
around Wayne State University in the late 1960s when I was a student,
I saw posters for a new “messiah,” Sun Myung Moon. I thought
then of the Biblical warnings of Jesus that “false christs and
messiahs shall arise, deceiving many.” Rev. Moon was visiting
the United States then. He moved here in the 1970s. The followers elicited
many jokes about “flower sellers.” Books by authors such
as Ted Patrick warned that these groups were brainwashing America’s
children. The only seeming Christian regard for them then appeared to
be that of something to be avoided at all costs.

I
graduated from law school in 1975 and immediately began an active practice.
My work frequently took me downtown. Downtown Detroit had a prominent
building – still there – the First National Building. The
First National Building had a health food bar – one where somebody
could sip herbal teas, buy ginseng tablets (billed as a legal way to
keep us awake) and eat various nutritional goodies. Although the staff
was fairly quiet, it soon came out that they believed Rev. Moon was
the messiah.

When
Benjamin Crème spoke in Detroit, November 4, 1981, the Unification
health food store and faces commonly seen there were included in his
large audience. So was just about every other mind control and /or other
forms of “New Age.” Bread for the World and Oxfam also had
a presence that evening. The First National health food bar personnel
were visibly present.

There
were so many people in the audience representing such a huge variety
of New Age groups – ranging from Est to Rajneeshees (Osho), to
Unity and A Course in Miracles that Unification Church seemed the least
of our worries. When I collected the New Age books and periodicals,
there was ample evidence that Rev. Moon and his organization were clearly
part of the New Age landscape.

Escalating
events seemed to carry me about after Benjamin Crème and company
ran their April 25th, 1982 advertisements proclaiming “THE CHRIST
IS NOW HERE.” Only a few short days after those ads appeared,
the local paper, THE DETROIT FREE PRESS featured a large feature article
by staff writer, Ruth Seymour. The numbers attending my local lectures
suddenly jumped from 35 to hundreds. I was suddenly on demand for television
appearances, radio interviews, and many out of town lectures. I would
put my law practice on hold for the next seven years and get the bulk
of my exercise running for planes. An unexpected referral fee for an
old medical malpractice fee came just in time to sustain us financially
during this time that my law income was diminished. As I did not feel
I could maintain credibility for a controversial message by exploiting
it financially, I spoke for free will offerings. Often the speaking
engagements came from small churches that sacrificed to raise the transportation
and lodging expenses. To lighten the load on organizers, more often
than not I was housed in church member homes. Things were happening
to me so rapidly, I could scarcely reflect on them, let alone daily
catalog them.

This
was also a time when I was receiving fierce opposition from too many
Evangelical sources for reasons I did not understand and would not fully
understand until I discovered the details outlined in the first two
articles of this series. It was a time of tremendous anxiety and stress
for both me and my family. My disabled husband who had lost both legs
above the knees in a 1979 accident and my son were understanding troupers
throughout these years as I traveled more heavily than I had expected
to ever do in my life.

THE
HIDDEN DANGERS OF THE RAINBOW was released in late May, 1983. By early
October 1983 it headed the Christian best seller list for the USA. Foreign
editions were scheduled. It was about that time I received a letter
which rang a curious bell. The letter, on CAUSA letterhead, was signed
by a U.S. Brigadier General E. D. Woellner. It invited me to an all
expenses paid seminar in Washington, D.C. “to explore positive
alternatives to Marxism.” It specifically denied any Unification
Church involvement in its operation. I pulled an article from my filing
cabinets I had recently filed under “Uruguay.” The article
talked about the success of the Unification Church in that South American
country. It further called CAUSA, “the political arm of the Unification
Church.”

Just
about that time the phone rang and Kansas city friends were on the line.
They told me they had just come back from a CAUSA conference and were
shocked at what they had seen. They said all accommodations were deluxe.
They said they had met a “Bo Hi Pak,” whom they subsequently
learned was then “number two” in Unification Church. Cleon
Skousen as well as W. Steuart McBirnie, author of then popular books
on the antichrist had been present at the same conference. My Kansas
City friends told me they said to each other, “good grief, they’re
presenting the entire New Age agenda as a positive alternative to Marxism.”

There
was a form to fill out at the end of the conference. It included a “whom
shall we invite.” They duly filled out “Constance Cumbey”
complete with Detroit address and phone number. They called me to say
that they both thought it terribly important that I see it for myself.
They were right.

Shortly
thereafter I got a follow up call from CAUSA staff. I said I would accept
their invitation; however, they would have to fly me from Fort Wayne,
Indiana as I would be there for Christmas. They would have to return
me to Detroit. The terms were accepted. Flying that “milk bucket
route,” I was routed through Charlotte and got there several hours
late. There was a “Carla,” with the “CAUSA”
sign held aloft waiting for me. She drove me to the hotel. I went to
the room which I learned was to be shared with a female author of books
on camping. She told me she was there because they had a son involved
in Unification Church. They had tried unsuccessful attempts at deprogramming
and they had given up on seeing their son again. Then, she said, out
of “the blue,” they were contacted by Unification Church
personnel and told that if they became active in CAUSA, they could have
free access to their son.

I
filed this using of children as literal hostages to the devil away in
my memory for future reference. I then went down to the reception which
was full of almost every delicacy one could conceive. It was there that
I met Kofi Annan who would later become the Secretary General of the
United Nations. He must have told the organizers that I had expressed
concerns as shortly thereafter I was taken aside and grilled by General
and Mrs. E. D. Woellner. They said, “who invited you?” I
said, “you did.” I was to be watched extremely closely over
the next few hours until I was literally put under house arrest and
extradited back to Detroit. It was, to make a long story very short,
quite an experience. What was even more shocking was to watch the Christians
sitting there, very respectfully under the image of Buddha (projected
during the presentations) and hearing that “when we say God, we
mean the God who is the God of the Christians, of the Jews, of the Mormons,
of Unification Church...”

Well,
I had the conference materials and lists of names of those there. I
also had a sense of the danger the organization posed. CAUSA Executive
Director Joseph Tully had admitted to me, " yes, we work with Benjamin
Crème AND Tara Center, but we don't all agree on who that new
Christ is." For the record, I had not mentioned "Tara Center"
to him – only that I had seen local Unificationists in the Detroit
area present at the November 1981 Crème lecture.

I
returned home. Many radio interviews gave me the opportunity to give
CAUSA more "free advertising" than they had ever counted on.
I had telephone calls from Memphis pastors. Two, saying they were from
large Memphis, Tennessee churches called me to tell me the Unificationists
had tried to work their congregation over "religious freedom issues."
They said they working to free people such as Everett Sileven and Rev.
Moon from "religious persecution." These godly men further
told me they were presented brochures indicating "bubble gum card"
Christians such as Tim LaHaye (Chairman), Marlin Maddoux, Jan and Paul
Crouch, and many others were named on the brochure for the organization
"Coalition for Religious Freedom." The ministers said they
had called these people who had refused to listen. Given my recent personal
experiences with this cult, I listened.

We
would move to Lake Orion, Michigan in late 1984. In late 1985 I read
an article, THE MOONIES AND THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT by a free lance writer,
Carolyn Weaver in MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE. I saw it in the small bookstore
of Lake Orion where we were very new in town. Ms. Weaver said that by
writing this article which featured sad news of Tim LaHaye’s entanglement
with Bo Hi Pak, she did not intend to imply that the average fundamentalist
Christian supported Bo Hi Pak or Unification Church in any manner. “To
the contrary, the average Christian would perceive Bo Hi Pak as an altar
boy to the Antichrist,” aptly wrote Ms. Weaver.

At
Huntington House's request, I attended the 1986 National Religious Broadcasters
convention held in Washington, D.C. In February 1984, two years earlier,
Tim LaHaye had introduced himself to me. We had a cordial discussion.
He told me the threat as he saw it was "secular humanism."
I told him I thought he should take a closer look at the New Age Movement.
I did not stay at the hotel, but with Washington area friends in 1986.
I'm certain that Tim LaHaye who then lived in Washington, D.C. was not
staying at the hotel either. I was scheduled to leave for Colorado for
speaking engagements in Colorado Springs and Denver. I wanted to speak
with Tim LaHaye personally about Ms. Weaver's allegations. As I was
coming down a Sheraton Hotel elevator, Tim LaHaye was coming up. I said,
"Tim," and he looked over. "Constance Cumbey," I
said. "Oh yes, we'll get together," he said.

It
never happened and it was probably nobody’s fault. I was scheduled
to speak to an Eagle Forum conference in Colorado Springs. My assigned
topic was New Age infiltration of the Church. I was wishing I had that
article with me, but I did not. The Eagle Forum chairman for Colorado,
Jayne Schindler, however, brought me a copy and specifically asked me
to comment on it. I mentioned only in passing that it was one more example
of how New Age factions were seeking to neutralize and even proselytize
the Church. Another speaker was Peter Waldron also of Washington, D.C.
Over the past four years I had done many radio interviews with him.
He and Tim LaHaye had joint radio ventures in Washington, D.C.

It
was a bright post-snowy day in Colorado Springs when the sponsoring
committee took me to lunch at Furrs Cafeteria. We were all startled
to hear, “paging Wanda Leonard, paging Wanda Leonard” over
the Cafeteria’s speaker system.

Wanda
left for the page and came back signaling me. “Tim LaHaye is on
the phone,” she said. She told me he said “This is the Rev.
Tim LaHaye calling from Washington, D.C.” She said “yes.”
He then said, “I understand you had a certain speaker named Constance
Cumbey speak at your conference.” She said, “yes.”
He then said, “I understand she quoted from a sleazy left wing
magazine (referring to Mother Jones). Wanda said, “Well, Tim,
Constance is here. I think you should speak with her yourself.”
He said, “Fine, put her on."

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I
said, “Wanda, I am not about to debate with Tim LaHaye on Furrs
Cafeteria’s only phone, located at their cash register, at the
height of their rush hour, especially when my own lunch is getting cold.”
He’ll have to call me later. Wanda scheduled me for a 3:30 Colorado
time telephone conference with Tim LaHaye.

Next
Week: PART IV: The LaHaye conversation; me as the “new enemy”
and the continued incursions of Unification Church into Jerry Falwell’s
networks and beyond. “Burying the Cross” with Rev. Moon.

Constance
Cumbey is an active Michigan lawyer. Constance practices her profession
primarily in, Southeastern Michigan, USA. Sometimes she also works in
what she calls her "old stomping grounds" of Michigan's State Capital,
Lansing, Michigan where she practices administrative, state law related
matters. She's enjoyed active and stimulating careers in government, politics,
law and as a published and translated author. In the past she served as
a national officer of the National Association of Women Lawyers and chaired
the Family Law subcommittee of the General Practice Section of the American
Bar Association.

Before
beginning her legal career, she worked as a legislative analyst for the
Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, and while in law school
as a consultant to the Appropriations Committee of the Michigan State
Senate. She also served as the first charter position Executive Assistant
to the May or of the Detroit enclave City of Highland Park, Michigan.
Seven years into her legal career, she went on to become the author of
the first major critical book about the New Age Movement, THE
HIDDEN DANGERS OF THE RAINBOW: The New Age Movement and our Coming Age
of Barbarism (1983); A PLANNED DECEPTION: The Staging of a New Age
Messiah (1986). Currently, she's completing a volume about Javier Solana,
the Barcelona Process, Israel and the European Union.

Traipsing
around Wayne State University in the late 1960s when I was a student,
I saw posters for a new “messiah,” Sun Myung Moon. I thought
then of the Biblical warnings of Jesus that “false christs and messiahs
shall arise, deceiving many.”